By Avi Salzman

Yields on Spanish sovereign debt briefly rose above 7% today, another sign that the upcoming Greek elections are just one round in an extended global game of Fear Factor. In general, European stocks are down, although Greek stocks have risen quite dramatically in the past couple of days, as my colleague Brendan Conway points out. Equity investors appear more confident that Greek voters will stick to the euro zone’s script on Sunday, or perhaps they’re just adding a little exposure ahead of the elections just in case there’s a pop.

In the U.S., consumer prices fell 0.3% as gas prices have tumbled. It was the biggest fall for the index in more than 3 years. And weekly jobless claims rose by 6,000 to 386,000 last week. The claims and CPI news sent index futures lower; they had been trading flat.

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Earnings reports, corporate strategies and analyst insights are all part of what moves stocks, and they’re all covered by the Stocks to Watch blog. We also look at macro issues, investor sentiments and hidden trends that are affecting the market. Stocks to Watch gives you the full picture of the U.S. stock markets, all day long.

The blog is written by Ben Levisohn, a former stock trader who has covered financial markets for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek.